Origin

Old English had two words for this number. One was hund, which came from an ancient root shared by Latin centum—as in cent (L18 for the money), centigrade (early 19th century), century, and many other cent- words—and Greek hekaton (the source of hectare (early 19th century)). The other was hundred, which was formed from the same element plus another meaning ‘number’. Hundred was also then used to refer to a division of a county or shire that had its own court. This unit may originally have been equivalent to a hundred hides of land—a hide is an ancient measure typically equal to between 60 and 100 acres, which varied from area to area because it was a measure of the area of land which would feed a family and its dependants.